The Yobe State government spends about N360 million annually to provide free dialysis services at the Yobe State University Teaching Hospital (YSUTH), Damaturu, the hospital’s Chief Medical Director, Baba Goni, has said.

Mr Goni said the hospital conducts between 600 and 700 free haemodialysis sessions every month under the programme, which has been running since 2017.

He disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu on Thursday.

According to him, the hospital spends N30 million monthly on the programme.

“In dialysis, you don’t count the number of patients because one patient can have two or three sessions in a week,” he said.

“The cost of dialysis per session in other teaching hospitals is about N50,000, excluding the cost of drugs, laboratory investigation and admission where necessary.”

Mr Goni said the state government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a reputable company supplying dialysis consumables to ensure that the treatment was sustained.

He said the hospital also performed free fistula surgeries to have “vascular access” to patients with Chronic Kidney Disease.

According to him, vascular surgeons are usually invited to conduct the procedure on patients while the hospital pays for the services and purchases the required consumables.

The CMD said a water treatment plant and five additional dialysis machines were recently procured, bringing the total number of functional dialysis machines at the facility to 11.

Mr Goni said that plans had reached an advanced stage to establish another dialysis centre at the Specialists’ Hospital, Gashua, the epicentre of kidney disease in the state.

He said the proposed dialysis centre in Gashua was captured in the 2026 budget to justify the commitment of the state government to the project aimed at easing the suffering of the people.

“Recently, we travelled to Ghana with the Commissioner for Health, where we negotiated with some partners to bring in these dialysis machines and train our nurses and medical engineers who will maintain them,” he said.

“Very soon, people will start enjoying these services over there, so that they don’t have to bear the inconvenience and transportation cost of coming to Damaturu for the treatment.

“I am using this medium to appeal to our people for their understanding of the complex nature of planning and implementation of government projects, which usually take some time.”

Mr Goni announced that a preliminary report on the 2025 kidney disease research, sponsored by the state and conducted in Gashua, would soon be submitted to Governor Mai Mala Buni for necessary action.

He, however, said the report would be thoroughly scrutinised before causality could be established because drawing conclusions on things that were not clear could have economic consequences.

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“Sometimes the report may suggest action to be taken against the economic livelihood of the communities. We don’t want to do that if we are not fully convinced because poverty is also a problem.

“Remember, during the COVID-19 pandemic, communities were locked down, and the consequences were worse than COVID because many people could not go out to fend for their families,” he said.

Mr Goni said the state and the Urology and Nephrology Centre, Mansoura in Egypt, had, in 2018, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for training doctors and other specialists at the YSUTH on kidney transplant.

He said although, the programme was obstructed by the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts were made to resume its implementation.

(NAN)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued new emergency guidance on using the licensed Ervebo vaccine during outbreaks of Bundibugyo virus disease, now limiting its use to research protocols.

The organisation made this known in a statement on Tuesday, saying the guidance followed an extraordinary meeting of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation held on 19 August, 2026.

WHO said Ervebo should currently be used against Bundibugyo virus only within a research protocol to generate evidence on its effectiveness, rather than through broader routine outbreak vaccination.

According to the organisation, a ring vaccination randomised controlled trial would be the most robust approach for determining Ervebo’s efficacy against Bundibugyo virus disease among affected populations.

The organisation said broader vaccine use before trial results would require a comprehensive risk-mitigation plan addressing potential risks associated with such use during outbreak response and monitoring recipient health outcomes promptly.

“WHO continues recommending preventive Ervebo vaccination for healthcare and frontline workers in Ebola virus priority areas with previous Ebola disease outbreaks.”

The organisation in its guidance, also emphasised preventive vaccination policy.

“In areas affected by the current Bundibugyo outbreak, Ervebo should only support outbreak response through research protocols, including ring trials or observational vaccine-effectiveness studies.” WHO said, stressing that evidence generation remains essential.

“Such studies could provide additional evidence about the potential performance of Ervebo against Bundibugyo virus during ongoing outbreaks,” it said.

The statement said those findings could inform future policy and vaccine recommendations later.

The organisation said off-label use might exceptionally be considered where research was not feasible, provided reliable vaccination records could track recipients and subsequent health outcomes over time and support safety monitoring.

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It urged accelerated development and rigorous evaluation of vaccines specifically targeting Bundibugyo virus disease and post-exposure prophylaxis products for outbreak preparedness and response, and other needed countermeasures for affected populations globally.

The organisation also called for stronger coordination among partners supporting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other countries considering Ervebo within research protocols to ensure consistent implementation and evidence sharing promptly.

It recommended developing and sharing master protocols for ring vaccination trials and high-quality observational studies to ensure timely, coordinated evidence generation during the outbreak and future emergency responses in affected countries.

(NAN)